Reacting to the outrage, Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore said: “I am not only terribly shocked but also greatly grieved that desecration was done to the Eucharistic Lord in that church.” The prelate said that the parish priest, Fr Satish, of the Order of Capuchin Friars, informed him of the wreckage. Perhaps in an attempted theft, hooligans ransacked the altar, destroyed the tabernacle, and scattered the hosts all over the place. At present, little is known about the reasons behind the desecration. According to early witness accounts, nothing was stolen, suggesting that vandalism was the goal..

People of different faiths came together on January 12 to participate in a ”sarva dharma sambhava” – a multi-faith prayer ceremony – at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, where anti-citizenship law protesters have been demonstrating for almost a month now. Participants read out the Preamble of the Indian Constitution and took an oath to preserve its “socialist, secular” values.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was among those who addressed the protest in the evening. Being a Sunday and the weather relatively warmer, more people, could join the protest, he added.  ..

American Pastor Bryan Nerren, a US citizen, was arrested and has been detained in India for three months because of his faith, his attorneys say.
Nerren, 58, was facing the Siliguri Court on Thursday, which may finally release his passport and allow him to return home to the US and his family, according to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) which is representing Nerren. After more than 17 years ministering to the people of Nepal and India – ...

The impact of the CAA, the NRC and other recent internal decisions on our external decisions, on our image abroad and our foreign policy (cannot but be adverse). Because what has happened as a result of the last year or so specially is that we are increasingly isolated.
There has been no meaningful international support for these series of actions that we have been discussing apart from a few committed members of the diaspora and a ragtag bunch of Euro MPs from the extreme right. ..  

Christians arrested in central India after Hindu nationalist, tribal villagers disrupted their worship service spent Christmas in jail before they were released on bail after 11 days – accused of illegally practicing medicine.
Pastor Mukam Kiraad, 35, along with two members of his church, 40-year-old Lalsingh Tomar and 38-year-old Nanliya Rawat, were shocked to learn that they were charged under a Madhya Pradesh state law prohibiting unregistered medical practice, punishable by up to three years in prison.
Their attorney, .   ...”  

FUnder the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), approximately 100,000 Tamil Sri Lankan refugees, an ethnic minority in India, may not be eligible for citizenship, which may force them to leave the country and return to the island nation they escaped during the civil war. Civil war in Sri Lanka lasted for almost three decades and finally ended in May 2009. Thousands of innocent people were killed during the war and thousands fled to neighbouring states in India. Majority of the refugees settled in Tamil Nadu. .....